The present invention pertains generally to agricultural balers used to form a bale of cut crop material. More particularly, the present invention relates to balers that have a pick-up assembly that includes a cutting mechanism for cutting the cut crop material into smaller pieces before the bale is formed. Specifically, the present invention is directed to improvements in the baler""s pick-up assembly that includes the cutting mechanism by providing guide plates to stabilize and protect cutting knives of the cutting mechanism.
Agricultural balers are machines that pick up a cut crop material typically arranged in windrows on the ground and form packages of the cut crop material known as bales. There are generally two types of balers: round balers and square balers. Round balers pick up the cut crop material and form round bales, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6.394,893 to Scholz et al, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Square balers pick up the cut crop material and form square bales, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,646 to Schrag et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Balers typically have a hitch, and, in operation, are hitched to and pulled by a tractor. The tractor provides power through hydraulic conduits to operate the mechanism of the baler. Because they perform a baling operation, both round and square balers have similar features, although their structures may be different. For instance, balers tend to include a pick-up assembly and a bale forming mechanism. The pick-up assembly includes a pick-up apparatus and a conveying apparatus, and serves to pick up the cut-crop material from the ground and direct it towards the bale forming mechanism. The pick-up apparatus includes a plurality of rotating tines that catch and drag cut crop material off of the ground and to the conveying apparatus. A pair of augers may help direct the cut crop material towards the center of the pick-up assembly where the conveying apparatus is located. The conveying apparatus then moves the cut crop material further along in the pick-up assembly.
In round balers, the conveying apparatus generally moves the cut crop material towards an opening (also called the xe2x80x9cthroatxe2x80x9d) in the bale forming chamber of a round bale forming mechanism. In square balers, the conveying apparatus moves the cut crop material into a duct that leads to the baling chamber of a square bale forming mechanism.
In both round balers and square balers, the conveying apparatus can be a rotor that rotates to move the cut crop material from the pick-up apparatus towards the bale forming mechanism. When a rotor is used, a cutting mechanism that includes an array of crop cutting knives can be disposed in slots in the floor of the pick-up assembly so that each knife can rotate from a resting position in or under the floor to an extended position, wherein the cutting edge of each knife is directed to engage the oncoming flow of cut crop material when in the extended position. In this way, each knife in the array of knives engages the flow of cut crop material and further cuts the crop material into even smaller pieces before the cut crop material enters the bale forming mechanism. The main advantage to having the array of knives for cutting the cut crop material into even smaller pieces is that the cut crop material will be easier for farm animals to chew and digest when the crop is used as farm animal feed.
However, the cutting mechanism of the prior art pick-up assemblies for round balers and for square balers has several drawbacks. First, errant cut crop material, or xe2x80x9ctrashxe2x80x9d as it is sometimes called, can flow into the slots in the floor of the pick-up assembly and clog up the slot. When this happens, the knife gets stuck in the resting position because of the impacted trash in the slot that prevents the knife from rotating into the extended position. Second, when the knives rotate from the protection of the slot into the exposed extended position, each knife is relatively susceptible to undesirable lateral torque exerted on the sides of the knife by the flow of cut crop material. This undesirable lateral torque can bend the knife or tender the knife less effective as it wobbles in the flow of cut crop material. Therefore, there is a need for a feature of the pick-up assembly that will decrease the likelihood that the knife slots will become impacted with errant cut crop material and that will stabilize each knife in the stream of cut crop material when in the extended position.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of pick-up assembly cutting mechanisms of the prior art square and round balers while maintaining the advantages of these machines.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism to avoid any knife becoming trapped by impacted errant cut crop material.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that protects knives from damage by lateral torque exerted by the flow of the cut crop material.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that stabilizes knives in the extended position to avoid a knife wobbling as cut crop material streams past, and engages with, each knife.
Another object of the present invention is to provide agricultural balers with a pick-up assembly having a cutting mechanism that is practical and cost effective to manufacture.
Another object of the present invention is to provide agricultural balers with a pick-up assembly having a cutting mechanism that is durable, operated reliably, and is easy to maintain.
In accordance with the above objectives, there is provided an agricultural baler comprising a bale-forming mechanism; and a pick-up assembly disposed forward of the bale-forming mechanism to pick up a cut crop material and convey the crop material towards the bale forming mechanism. The pick-up assembly includes (a) a pick-up apparatus; (b) a conveying rotor disposed to receive cut crop material from the pick-up apparatus and to move the cut crop material towards the bale forming mechanism; (c) a floor having a first slot formed therein; (d) a cutting mechanism including a first knife disposed to rotate from a first resting position to a second cutting position extending through the first slot in the floor; and (e) a first guide plate disposed adjacent a first side of the first slot.
In accordance with a second embodiment of the invention, the pick-up assembly includes a second guide plate disposed adjacent to a second side of the first slot so that at least a portion of the first slot is disposed between the first guide plate and the second guide plate.
In accordance with a third embodiment of the invention, the floor has a plurality of first slots formed therein and the cutting mechanism includes a plurality of first knives, each first knife is disposed to rotate from a first resting position to a second cutting position extending through a respective one of the plurality of first slots in the floor, and the pick-up assembly further comprises a plurality of first guide plates, wherein each of the plurality of first guide plates is disposed adjacent to a corresponding first side of one of the plurality of first slots.
In accordance with a fourth embodiment of the invention, the pick-up assembly further includes a plurality of second guide plates, wherein each second guide plate is disposed adjacent to a corresponding second side of one of the plurality of first slots so that at least a position of each first slot is disposed between the corresponding one of the first guide plates and the second guide plates.
Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent for the Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments, which follows, when considered together with the attached drawings.